


Thinks Twice and Thrice and Yet Again

by Maeve_of_Winter



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Friendship, Gangs, Loyalty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 19:38:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17793494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maeve_of_Winter/pseuds/Maeve_of_Winter
Summary: Jughead goes out to seek a Serpent Queen who can truly help his people.





	Thinks Twice and Thrice and Yet Again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [southsidestyle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/southsidestyle/gifts).



__ The true Queen knows her people fed, before she sits to feast.  
The good Queen knows her people safe, before she takes her rest,  
Thinks twice and thrice and yet again, before she makes request.

"The Cost of the Crown" - Mercedes Lackey and Debra F. Sanders

* * *

At sixteen years old, Jughead already found himself leading a gang. He wouldn’t have predicted this outcome, but he eager to meet the challenge, prepared to do what he could to help the Southside. But he couldn’t do it just on his own. He would need a partner.

There was Betty, of course. But when he’d been desperately trying to save the Southside from being bulldozed by the Lodges, to save his people, to save his home, she hadn’t hesitated a second before leaping at the chance to join Veronica in her run for class president. And before that, when he’d been almost at his wit’s end trying to find a way to stop Hiram, she’d dragged him along for that weekend at Veronica’s excessively and crassly materialistic lodge that probably had been built off the backs of the previous people the Lodges had remorselessly exploited. 

“Can you please not investigate my best friend when she's nice enough to invite us both to her family's cabin? I need this weekend to be an escape,” Betty had told him, seemingly unable to realize that Jughead could not escape from the reality of the Lodges razing his home for their prison.

And thus, Jughead had been forced to put up with Veronica oozing condescension that entire weekend about how “civilized” it was that they could put their differences aside to have fun. Their differences, of course, being that she was happy to help his parents destroy the lives of all the Southside’s citizens while he was desperately fighting against it. He still couldn’t believe that Veronica had the gall to tell him to his face that she was still his friend, and it truly stung that Betty was still more than content to ignore all of Jughead’s problems if it meant she retained the privileges that came with being Veronica’s chosen “bestie.”

But then there was also Toni. Who’d been the first person to encourage Jughead to join the Serpents, who’d tried to protect him from the Ghoulies at Southside High, who’d coached him through the initiation and then bathed his wounds afterward. When Betty had broken up with him, when Archie had been happy to rush over to his trailer and mercilessly rip him apart in front of the assembled Serpents and rub it in his face that Betty no longer wanted to be with him, Toni had been there to comfort him afterward.

It was no contest.

He knew that Toni was living on her own again, having dumped Cheryl after discovering she’d been stalking Josie and subsequently been booted out of Thistle House. For her part, Toni seemed to take it in stride. 

“Didn’t think it would last, anyway. Northsiders are hardly the most trustworthy or reliable,” Jughead had overheard her say to Sweet Pea when he’d offered her an obligatory word of consolation on the matter. 

Now, Jughead found Toni at the ruins of her grandfather’s trailer, trying to salvage what she could after the fire.

“Come to join the scavenger hunt, Jones?” she called to him at his approach. 

But her usual wry humour couldn’t hide the devastation in her eyes, and Jughead understood. She’d just lost her last resort, the home she’d gone to when there had been no place else. And now with her grandfather’s home destroyed and his health failing, she had to worry about where the both of them were going to live.

Jughead wanted to help her. He wanted to help everyone, but he couldn’t do that without Toni.

“I’ve come to make you an offer,” he said, hooking his thumbs in his jeans.

“Oh, really?” Toni played at nonchalance, but he could see the interest that sparked on her face as she stood up and dusted herself off. She was intrigued. “What kind of offer would that be?”

Jughead trusted Toni enough not to bother with pretenses, and he laid all of his cards on the table. “For you and I to lead the Serpents together. My dad’s retiring and passing the torch onto me.”

Toni’s expression was one of instant disbelief, and she made no effort to hide her doubt, folding her arms across her chest as she tilted her head at him. “ _ You’re _ the new Serpent King?”

Jughead nodded in confirmation. “And this King is in need of a Queen.”

Toni scoffed. “Yeah, sure. Well, I don’t know if you’re asking my opinion on giving that role to Betty or not, but I’ve got to say that I would prefer our leader to be someone who actually gave a damn when the Lodges were trying to steal our homes from us. Or who cared when Weatherbee was forcing the Southside students and  _ only _ the Southside to wear uniforms. Or who’s not best friends with the girl who merrily helps her parents try to ruin our lives. So, I know I probably don’t get a vote here, but if I did, Betty wouldn’t have it.”

She turned back to begin sifting through the ashes of her grandfather’s home once more, but Jughead stopped her.

“Betty’s not even a contender. I don’t want her to be Serpent Queen. I want you, Toni.”

He waited for her surprise and wasn’t disappointed. She wheeled back around, astonishment clear on her face.

“Me?” she repeated skeptically. “You can get the giggling Miss Strawberry Perfume Sweetness and Light, but  _ I’m _ the one you want? Come on, Jones.”

Fully prepared for Toni’s doubt, Jughead just shrugged. “Betty’s a Northsider. She doesn’t know what it’s like for us. She’s certainly never been interested been interested in knowing or helping. I’ve been working against the Lodges for months, and I can count the times she’s actually expressed support for what I’m doing on one hand. Why would I even consider her as an option?”

Toni sent him a deeply unimpressed look. “So you’re choosing me just to fuck over your girlfriend? You really think I’m going to let myself be used like that?”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with hurting Betty,” Jughead replied firmly. “But it’s got everything to do with helping the Serpents. These are desperate times for us, and we need a leader who knows the problems of the people, who’s familiar with what they need. That’s you, Toni. Not Betty, not even me.”

She studied him for several moments, some of her practiced wariness dissolving in the face of his sincerity. “You really mean this, don’t you? You’re asking me to be the Serpent Queen?”

“I absolutely do.” Jughead watched her closely, his heart pounding. He didn’t know if he could do half of what he wanted for the Serpents without Toni. “Do you accept?”

“Hmm.” Planting her hands on her hips, Toni raised her chin. “I have but one condition.”

“Go ahead,” Jughead prompted her.

“We abolish the Serpent Dance. Immediately,” Toni informed him. “We should have gotten rid of it long ago.”

“Done,” Jughead said with relief, anticipation beginning to flow through him. He stuck out his hand for her to shake. “Do we have a deal?”

“We do.” Stepping forward, carefully avoiding the debris in her path, Toni approached him and shook his hand, and before she stepped back from him, gave him a light peck on the cheek. “Our first order of business needs to be helping the other Serpents.”

“I wouldn’t have it be anything else,” Jughead told her warmly, taking solace in Toni proving that he’d definitely made the right choice. “You have a second order in mind?”

“Bringing down the Lodges,” Toni replied, her voice hard. “I didn’t always think it was important, but now that I’ve seen everything they’ve done, I know that it is. They tried their best to stamp us out, and now we need to strike back and destroy every one of them, once and for all.” 

Jughead felt a grin tug up his lips and he looked at her appreciatively. “Toni, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.”

“It damn well will be,” Toni told him, giving him a small smile in turn. “Most of the Serpents are gathered at the Wyrm. Let’s go find them.”

She fell into step beside him, and Jughead put an arm around her shoulders, drawing her close, and a small but not unfounded hope began to burn in his chest that the two of them were walking toward a brighter future for all of the Southside.


End file.
